When Friday morning rolled around and I hadn't done it, I vowed to use my Sesame Street time to get it finished. But then I didn't, and so I promised I'd write it on Saturday. I didn't do that either. Squeaking in on Sunday night though! And okay, I get this is a blog and I can really just write or not write whenever I want and it doesn't change the course of fate or life or even your day. That's just an example.

That's an example to say, sometimes I have bad days. Sometimes the bad days are days when something actually really bad happens. But you know, most of the time a bad day is just more like a blah day. You wake up and you are so mad you can't keep sleeping and you run out of coffee cream and have to use regular milk and your kids are arguing and your body doesn't want to move and you're thinking "What on earth am I going to do today? Because I don't have the motivation to leave the house but if I don't leave the house I WILL LOSE IT!" Also, on those days, you write run-on sentences.

When I first picked this topic for this week, I think I assumed I'd write some basic post on finding balance in all parts of life. And while we all need some perfecting in this area, when I really thought about it, I realized that this wasn't the lesson for me in my twenties. I didn't have to learn that it was important to balance my different roles and tastes and goals with each other and reality. I already knew that and the task was instead trying to put it into practice.

What I did have to learn (oh, and especially since kids), what I've had to learn to balance, is that some days I will fail miserably at this, and failing miserably isn't an excuse to spiral wildly out of control into imbalanced oblivion. I am a human--and at that, a female, mothering, married one--and so it goes to say that I'm going to have a bad day. They're allotted to us. Some days are just pajama days, and even when you don't feel great about it, it still feels so good to do it.

Life can't and shouldn't be a constant striving. I really do want to work hard toward things, to live with excellence, to be my best self; but sometimes it's important to get back in to life perspective and understand that it's just simply not roses all the time and that needs to be okay. Even when you've moved to the greatest city in the world, if you still want to take every Monday to laze about, maybe accomplish some laundry, but mostly just watch princess movies in yoga pants, I say, hey! That's fine. It's probably a better balance to allow those things than to push for perfection and accomplishment in every waking moment (and then some, because I actually have been trying to sleep better, which just sounds funny to say but I will admit to you is true).

I guess my point is, finding a balance shouldn't be another item on the checklist. Finding a balance should be about identifying your crazy, and then allowing yourself to swing the other way now and again. Of course we all hope to fall somewhere in the middle, but we are a more interesting species than that, so I know you've all got crazy. Go with it. And then go with the other end. And then spend the days in between remembering what it feels like on both sides and finding those balanced vibes somewhere in the middle.